The Street Where She Lives

By Jill Shalvis

The secure world that Rachel Wellers has carefully constructed is crumbling around her. Her sweet twelve-year-old daughter is turning into a sullen teenager before her eyes. The injuries she's just sustained in a hit-and-run accident are jeopardizing her career as a cartoonist. And worst of all, Ben Asherthe man she sent away thirteen years agois back, tipped off by her daughter that they need him.

When Ben hears that Rachel has been injured, he panics. In an instant, he drops his obsessionphotojournalismand returns to the city that he swore he'd never visit again. He doesn't want to question his motives for doing so he only knows he has to protect Rachel. Suddenly he's convinced the hit-and-run wasn't an accident. Rachel might have been hurt because of him.

But he doesn't count on the feelings that get stirred up being with her...or how hard it will be to leave her again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harlequin Special Releases
• Release date: Oct 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781460305164

Jill Shalvis

New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is, um, mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning novels wherever books are sold and visit her website, jillshalvis.com, for a complete book list and daily blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures.

Reviews for The Street Where She Lives

[karla9brandenburg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Globe Trotting Ben hasn't seen his ex in 13 years. That doesn't mean he's forgotten about her. An abandoned baby, he's used to hearing "Just Go Away." So when Rachel tells him she doesn't love him rather than tie him down with an unwanted pregnancy, he does just that. He goes away. Wanders the globe. No one has ever wanted him.

Rachel's father moved her family around frequently, so once she has the opportunity to put down roots, she does. Her and the daughter she is raising. Although Ben was the love of her life, they were at cross purposes and she won't tie him down.

When Rachel is hit by a car, her daughter calls on daddy to nurse mom back to health, hoping to rebuild her family. Ben discovers the hit-and-run was no accident, and comes back to watch over the people he loves, even if Rachel doesn't want anything to do with him.

Smart and sexy, as you would expect from Ms. Shalvis, she provides Ben and Rachel multiple opportunities to right the past, gives the characters room to grow. While the ending was satisfying, I envisioned a different route to get there, letting the two protagonists work together to surprise their daughter. They both had to compromise, and the conclusion is foreshadowed well enough that it could have been less of a "surprise."

All in all, another fabulous book by a fabulous author.